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I am grateful that for the past eight years we, The United States Of America were led by a man and woman who exemplified the best of America. A man and woman of grace, decency, dignity, class, knowledge and wisdom.

CHARLOTTE—First Lady Michelle Obama never once mentioned Mitt Romney’s name. But in her speech before the Democratic National Convention speech Monday night, she offered a dramatic contrast between her husband, Barack Obama, and his Republican opponent, insisting he understands the struggles of average Americans because he’s lived through those tough times, too.

“Barack knows the American Dream because he’s lived it, and he wants everyone in this country to have that same opportunity, no matter who we are, or where we’re from, or what we look like, or who we love,” Michelle Obama said. “He believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.”

It was a speech meant to bolster her husband’s legislative accomplishments — and it did, as the first lady touted the president’s push for health care reform, the auto industry bailout and efforts to keep down student loan interest rates.

But not unlike Ann Romney’s speech on behalf of her husband at last week’s Republican National Convention, Michelle Obama also sought to humanize the president, and to remind voters of the working class background she and her husband came from. With tears in her eyes, she spoke of her father, a pump operator at a Chicago water plant, and how her husband was raised by a single mother and by his grandparents.

“We learned about dignity and decency — that how hard you work matters more than how much you make, that helping others means more than just getting ahead yourself. We learned about honesty and integrity; that the truth matters; that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules, and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square,” she said. “We learned about gratitude and humility; that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean, and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.”

Those are the values they are trying to pass on to their own children — and values that inform her husband’s job as president, she said.

“After so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are — it reveals who you are,” said Michelle Obama. “As president, you can get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are.”

Her husband, she said, “is thinking about folks like my dad and his grandmother” and is “thinking about the pride that comes from a hard day’s work.” It was a line meant to push back against Romney’s claims that Obama doesn’t understand how to create jobs because he’s never worked in the private sector. But it also offered a subtle contrast between her husband and Romney, who came from a well-off background.

She spoke of the student loan debts they incurred as a young married couple: “We were so young, so in love, and so in debt,” she said.

And she spoke of her husband’s skills as a father — which she insisted have been unchanged even despite the pressures of the presidency.

“People ask me whether being in the White House has changed my husband, I can honestly say that when it comes to his character, and his convictions, and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago,” she said, her eyes wet with tears.

Pushing back against GOP charges that her husband is driven by politics, Obama insisted there is no “us and them” for the president, that “he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican or none of the above.”

She told voters her husband never lets himself “get distracted by the chatter and the noise.” He just keeps “getting up and moving forward,” she said.

“He reminds me that we are playing a long game here, and that change is hard, and change is slow, and it never happens all at once,” she said. “Many of us stand here tonight because of their sacrifice, and longing, and steadfast love because time and again, they swallowed their fears and doubts and did what was hard.”

That has been the story of the American dream, the first lady said. “That is what has made my story, and Barack’s story, and so many other American stories possible.”

Family Circle Magazine’s Presidential Cookie Bake-Off, which traditionally pits the cookie recipe of the current First Lady against that of the First Lady Hopeful, first occurred in 1992 and has now spanned six elections. What began as PR damage control for Hillary Clinton before the 1992 election (after she was accused of being out of touch with stay-at-home, cookie-baking women), has, oddly, become a rather prophetic indicator of the likely outcome of presidential elections. With the exception of Cindy McCain, every winner of the bake-off has gone on to the White House.

Not only does the outcome of the contest itself seem to (sometimes) predict that of the election, but one may even be able to predict the outcome of the bake-off itself based on one little factor: whether either recipe contains oats. According to Slate.com, trend analysis of the bake-off’s previous winning recipes has revealed that oat-containing recipes have consistently beat-out their non-oat-containing counterparts. From Cindy McCain’s oatmeal-butterscotch cookies to Laura Bush’s oatmeal chocolate chunks, this continues to ring true. So, if A+B=C, then do oats win presidential elections?

But cookie batter isn’t the only thing this contest stirs up – it also yields plenty of controversy. Many feel that the contest is outdated (and has been since its inception), and that it reduces some of the most politically powerful and influential women in the country to recipe-swapping, 1950s stereotypes. The flip side of that, of course, is that if the contest were to be canceled, it could be seen as a slap in the face to women who choose to work in the home and/or might imply that women who do have careers don’t also make time for their families. It’s pretty treacherous ground any way you slice it.

Additionally, in these health and weight-conscious times, some wonder whether promoting the baking of cookies that contain plenty of sugar and trans fats, in addition to oats, sends the wrong message. But both Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Romney make it pretty clear in their descriptions of their recipes that their cookies are used only as special treats, not daily staples. Like Cookie Monster now says, cookies are a “sometimes food.”

So, sexism and sugar aside, Will Ann Romney‘s oat-containing M&M recipe beat outMichele Obama‘s white and dark chocolate chip recipe? If it does, will Mrs. Obama pull a second upset and land in the White House anyway? Only time and voters (of both the bake-off and election varieties) will tell. If you are interested in whipping up a batch of presidential cookies, or want to vote, click here.